


The Men of Voltron Calendar

by PlanceGardener21



Category: Voltron Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Shirtless Lance Bingo, plance, shirtless Lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:01:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25025851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlanceGardener21/pseuds/PlanceGardener21
Summary: Pidge receives the infamous collectible “Men of Voltron” Calendar as a gift and discovers some secret messages meant just for her inside of it.
Relationships: Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt
Kudos: 25





	The Men of Voltron Calendar

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a fun ramble for Shirtless Lance Month. You get shirtless Hunk, Shiro, and Keith as an extra added bonus. You’re welcome.

On the long journey back to Earth, Pidge was thankful for the GAC they had earned from the Voltron Show’s gaudy spin-off merchandise, much of which was now considered collectible since the Paladins had gone “missing” for so long. There were Paladin shirts and caps and mugs on the market. There were pens and stickers and replicas of the lions that could even combine to form Voltron. She had even heard that there were dolls and action figures of the Paladins, but she hadn’t actually seen any of those yet. Many citizens of the galaxy were paying ridiculous sums for all of this merchandise, especially for the infamous “Men of Voltron” calendar, which Shiro wouldn’t let her buy when it was first released, claiming it was inappropriate for a girl her age to have such a thing. That calendar might have been the key to everything that had been troubling her about one of her teammates throughout the war, but she didn’t realize that fact at the time. 

Back then, Pidge couldn’t help wondering if the whole mysterious calendar project was Lance’s idea. She knew that he had spoken privately with a photographer who had come to the Castle of Lions to do a few photo shoots, but she wasn’t privy to what was going on at the time. At first, she didn’t understand why Lance seemed so embarrassed about the project, and when she asked him about it, he would always blush and change the subject. A couple of years later, when he gave her an autographed copy of it for her eighteenth birthday, he insisted that she didn’t open her present in front of him. Perplexed by his discomfort about the matter, she waited until she had gone back inside Green Lion’s interior to study it page by page in privacy, and she was actually glad that Lance wasn’t around when she did this because she was a bit shocked by the calendar’s contents. 

She needed the translator on her tablet to decipher the summary on the back cover. Apparently, each calendar page had a grid containing the month’s particular dates which automatically updated itself with each passing year. From what she could decipher from the headings and captions, there were exactly twelve months to the Galran year, and each calendar page featured a shirtless male Paladin in a sexy pose or situation for that particular month. After reading that information in the description, she was certain that photoshoot had been Lance’s idea because she knew that Noodle Boy couldn’t resist flexing his skinny arms in front of the camera. After all this time she still assumed that he was doing that sort of thing because he was desperate for attention from all of the attractive young females he had flirted with from around the universe. She didn’t realize that there was one particular girl that he had been trying to impress for the last couple of years. 

On the first page there was a photo of Mr. January, the “Handyman,” taken in the castle’s work garage. It featured a smiling, sweaty, grimy Hunk who was wearing only a grease-stained pair of trousers, his orange headband, and work boots. By the way the shot was set up it appeared that he had just finished repairing a drive engine on one of the pods. He wasn’t showing off, but his well-developed muscles and broad, tattooed shoulders made quite an impression of his physical strength regardless. After seeing the warmth and intelligence in his big dark eyes and the softness of his smile, Pidge could only conclude that Shay was one lucky Balmeran.

The picture of Mr. February, captioned “Intrepid,” was a pink-cheeked Takashi Shirogane standing on the command deck of the castle ship against a background of infinite night. He wearing nothing but his usual boots, grey utility belt with side storage pouches and a very tiny pair of tight black briefs that left little to the imagination. Although she was fascinated by the sophisticated technology of his artificial right arm, there was no denying that the rest of him was worth a serious study. She realized that, while making this thorough visual assessment, she wasn’t doing it strictly for science anymore, and she blushed to the roots of her hair. Shiro was like a second father to her and not really interested in her type anyway. She was beginning to understand why Shiro didn’t want her to buy one of these calendars when she was younger though. Inappropriate, indeed. She tuned the page.

Mr. March, “Blade,” was a sexy, sweaty Keith clad only in a too-tight pair of black leggings and his usual fingerless leather gloves. His unruly hair was tied back in a messy ponytail, and in the photo he was grimacing ferally, showing the savagery of his half-Galra heritage while wielding his Marmora blade with the sort of confidence only a master swordsman could exhibit. Since his time in the Quantum Abyss, Keith had grown taller. His shoulders had broadened and his muscles had developed far beyond that of the the skinny teenaged boy who had blasted off into space with them for what seemed an eternity ago. He looked fierce and a bit frightening, but somehow there was still a softness about him. It was his eyes, she realized. Keith has those gorgeous violet eyes that gave you a glimpse into his noble soul. His eyes revealed the true heroic and self-sacrificing nature of their current Black Paladin. She sighed and kept this to herself. She would never admit it to him, but Keith was swoon-worthy. She turned the page.

Mr. April was captioned “Loverboy” and it featured a slim, lanky, barechested Lance standing in his bedroom on the castleship. She bit her lip in an attempt to stop herself from squealing with glee when she saw how adorably awkward he looked. There was a noticeable rosiness to his cheeks, and his right arm was raised from the shoulder with the elbow bent so that his hand cupped the back of his neck in a gesture indicating mild embarrassment. His left hand rested casually at his waist where his unbuttoned, faded blue jeans hung loosely on his slim hips, intentionally revealing the waistband of his soft cotton briefs, their bright white color providing sharp contrast with the toned carmel-colored skin of his abdomen. He wasn’t as powerfully built as Hunk or Shiro, nor were his muscles as defined as Keith’s. He had more of a swimmer’s build, slender but strong. The video game console they had bought from the Space Mall was set up behind him, its power button glowing faintly in the shadows of the darkened bedroom. She was surprised to see that somehow, he had managed to smuggle her blue and green trash nebula pets into his room for the photoshoot without her knowing about it. Their little facial marks were glowing, imitating Lance’s own blushing cheeks. The fluffy blue creature was gazing wide-eyed at the green one who was affectionately nuzzling Lance’s cheek. She knew from experience how much that tickled, and the photographer captured Lance in middle of laughing, with his blue eyes sparkling and with the most genuine smile she had ever seen. She studied the little crinkles around his eyes and slight dimples in his cheeks that appeared as he laughed. She mentally catalogued every tiny scar, mole, and freckle on his face, arms, and torso, seeing beauty in his every little imperfection. Her mind wandered into a daydream about kissing every one of those his little flaws and nuzzling his cheek the way her little pet had been privileged to do. She sighed, and then her eyes suddenly widened in surprise when she noticed that the Galran calendar’s equivalent of April 3 had been marked with a little green heart. April 3 was her birthday! There was an “I” and a “U” on either side of the heart in Lance’s own handwriting.

Her breathing quickened, and then she knew why he wanted her to open her present in private. That revealing photograph of “Loverboy” with the video game console, the trash nebula creatures, his adorable blush, and the date April 3 marked with a little green heart meant something. In one terrifying and exhilarating moment she realized that perhaps “Loverboy” had been concealing his affection for a particular girl for a long time, and that the risqué photograph revealed far more than his exposed skin. It revealed what was truly in his heart. I 💚 U....I love you. Her mind was racing. Were there any more hidden meanings in this calendar?

She flipped through the next pages of the calendar impatiently, not even pausing to stop and admire the gorgeous but embarrassing beefcake photos of her friends. And then, there he was again: Mr. July. The photo for that month was entitled “Sharpshooter.” It had been taken in Red Lion’s hangar and showed Lance winking and flashing his most seductive grin at the camera as he stood in front of one of Red’s massive paws. He was not wearing the top half of his black undersuit and was bare-to-the-waist with only the lower half of his blue and white armor in place. His Bayard was in its long-range blaster rife form and its barrel rested on one shoulder as he flexed the muscles of his other arm. There was a little blue heart around July 28 on the calendar with the words “Kiss me” inside of it. It was in his own handwriting. July 28 was his birthday, and it was coming up in a few months. Is that the present he wanted? Did she really have to wait that long to give it to him? 

She looked through the other calendar pages, and it seemed there were only more gorgeous photos of Hunk, Keith, and Shiro until she got to December. There was no December photo, only a message: 

“You have received a special edition of this calendar with a photo for your eyes only. This page is locked. The unique photo can only be revealed with a password that I will give you after you give me my birthday present. 😘 In the event that you don’t give me my present on or before July 28, or you can’t hack your way into this page, this photo will be used as a placeholder. (Swipe right.)”

She swiped the screen. There was a group photo of the guys exercising in the castle gym wearing nothing but little shorts that matched the color of their Paladin armor. Hunk, in yellow, was lifting barbells. Keith, in red, was doing chin-ups. Shiro, wearing black, was doing sit-ups. And Lance, in blue, was working out with dumbbells. She swiped left again.

Pidge grinned to herself, deciding that she was definitely going to be giving Lance his birthday present early this year. In the meantime she was ready to start hacking.

**Author's Note:**

> Autthor’s note: If this fic gets more than 28 reblogs on Tumblr and/or more than 28 kudos on AO3 by Lance’s birthday, I will tell you what custom photo Lance had taken for Pidge’s eyes only.


End file.
